Chapter Three

By: Sokai

Disclaimer: I, Sokai, do not claim ownership to the workings of W.I.T.C.H. -- I leave that honor up to Elisabetta Gnone. However, I can and DO claim to own this story and its inspired ideas FROM said series (with continued credit going to JayxKay for the initial idea).

Note: :Imitates Peter Griffin: Eheheheh . . . SUH-WEET. LoL You like my storrrrry, you wanna daaaate me, love me and marry me. LoL Sorry, just finished watching "Miss Congeniality" again. The better one. LoL Anyhow! Nothing to warn or say about this chapter before you read it, so go for it!

P.S. And at the risk of being "stoned to death" (or, in this case, "flamed to death") by the shameless promoting I'm about to do, after you're done reading this chapter, please DO go check out my Sailormoon stories, "Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon: Cosmic," and "Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon: Goddess," and leave a review for those to let me know what you think! LoL Worked pretty hard on them both, so yeah! Bring on the support! LoL

This chapter was written/created in May 2006.

The tall, athletically fit and lengthy blonde haired Cornelia Hale sat uncomfortably at her breakfast table, within the beautiful kitchen of her lavish penthouse. For one who greatly thrived off of continuous and adoration and attention (as she habitually received, due to her popularity at her private school, Sheffield Institute of the sea side city of Heatherfield where she lived), it was all she could do to hide underneath the table for momentary shelter -- which, running away from her problems, was an extreme rarity for her to enact.

But, no -- that'd also be silly to do, because they'd probably just "hide" with me, thought Cornelia in light sarcasm of her family despite the heaviness of truth riddled within it, as she surely did not put it past them to do at that moment. After all, they were the culprits to her continued discomfort, the way they kept on utterly fawning over her and just . . . just . . . staring at her as they were right now.

Of course, this was not to say that her parents, Harold and Elizabeth, ignored or mistreated their eldest daughter in any way on a regular basis. If anything, Cornelia would often find herself at avid odds with her platinum haired and glasses-wearing mother for being a bit too attentive to her affairs, while her humor-oriented, brunette of a father was more so "in between" on that matter.

No. Cornelia led a great life, with a great family (for the most part, anyway -- which, percentage wise, ranked up there to around eighty-five percent of the time that they were "great"). It was just that . . . this was pushing it way too far!

". . . U-uh . . . I think I'll just . . . go now," said Cornelia with a bit of uncertainty, almost afraid to have spoken at all, let alone to rise from her place at the table to actually leave, as she knew that one or both of her parents would most likely stop or follow her.

Sure enough, Mrs. Hale immediately jumped from her seat directly across from her and happily gushed,

"Don't be silly, sweetheart! You must stay and finish eating all of these wonderful dishes I have made for you for breakfast!"

"Thaaaat's right, kiddo! A grand princess desires a grand feast! So, eat up!" added an extremely chipper Mr. Hale as he gestured a strong, slightly hairy hand toward the multitude of dishes -- hot and cold -- crowding the the table and inanimately vying for the blonde's attention.

"Yeah, but . . . Tuna casserole . . . pot roast, and . . . roasted chicken for breakfast? I would have just settled for a simple bowl of cereal or an omelet -- especially if I'd been allowed to make it, myself!" said Cornelia in slight exasperation, her blue eyes traveling from dish to dish as her parents let out a loud chortle at this.

"Oh, my, no! You? Doing any sort of manual labor? Perish the thought, our beautiful and flawless daughter! From now on, the entire world will wait upon you, hand and foot!" responded Mrs. Hale in an matter-of-fact capacity, at the same moment that her second and youngest daughter, Lilian, came racing into the kitchen with a huge grin plastered across her tiny, six year old face.

"I've just finished polishing your entire shoe collection, your ice skates, and as soon as Mommy calls in sick to school for me, I'll get started on cleaning your entire room, Cornelia! You're the greatest big sister in the world!" she raved before planting a sloppy kiss upon Cornelia's creamy cheek and scampered back out of the kitchen, presumably to begin her task of organizing her already organized room (that Cornelia took great pride in keeping it that way).

While her entire morning thus far was shaping out to be incredibly bizarre, Cornelia's traditionally bratty little sister's complete "one-eighty" had taken the cake, hands down. She'd been running in and out of the kitchen for the past twenty minutes, notifying her older sister of her recent "do-good-deeds" that applied to her -- and quite frankly, it was becoming a bit alarming.

I mean, this is Lilian we're talking about! If anything, she lives for the sole purpose of making my own life miserable, not stress-free! And now, here she is, suddenly acting as my chambermaid or something, and dishing out the sugary sweet compliments left and right? Now, I know something is definitely up, silently rationalized Cornelia, her usually short temper abruptly fleeing from her at that very moment as she quickly rose from her seat and slammed her hands down onto the tiny space left upon the food-congested table.

"What is the matter with you guys today? Last night, you couldn't even look at me, let alone speak to me, after I came home late. And now, this morning, you've cooked practically every piece of food in the house -- and all for me!

Meanwhile, Lilian's gotten possessed by the 'nice bug' -- even though she is walking on a bit of dangerous ground by being in my room right now at all, though -- and I'm going to be late for school in the first time in a very . . . very . . . VERY long time!" she exclaimed heatedly, staring down both of her parents expectantly and waiting for them to either reprimand her for her outburst, or at the very least explain their newfound (not to mention, creepy) behavior.

Only one of the two scenarios had occurred.

"Harold! I told you that we should have just thrown out all of the food in the house and gone to the supermarket to start fresh! I am so sorry, Cornelia! When you get home from school, sweetie, I promise that you'll have something far more substantial and worthy of you waiting!" apologized Mrs. Hale as she suddenly rushed around the table and crouched at her daughter's feet in appeal.

"W-wait, what? T-that's not what I --"

"-- You know, princess, I had nothing to do with this! So if you really want to, you can just use your telekinetic powers to toss this food -- and your mother, if you'd like -- into the trash. Your hands are far too perfect and delicate to ever lift heavy objects," said Cornelia's father as he too then stooped before her.

Cornelia was absolutely stupefied by this point. And it wasn't because of her father's outrageous comment to "throw away" his own wife over something so trivial, but due to his mention of Cornelia's ability to move things with her mind.

Now she was positive that something was up unquestionably. No one outside of her "W.I.T.C.H." group (which is what she and her four friends and fellow members called themselves -- as it was what the first initial from each of their first names spelled -- whenever making reference to their "Guardian of the Veil" duties) knew about her having been endowed with magical gifts, including her power over Earth.

And unless her family had been kidnapped and swapped with evil Metamoorian clones (as she was naturally suspicious) overnight, there weren't any other logical explanations as to how they could possibly know of her true identity (not that things like five, magic-wielding teenagers fighting against otherworldly creatures in secret on a day to day basis sounded very logical to the average individual as it was).

Unless . . .

". . . Do I happen to talk in my sleep or something, and that's how you . . . found out . . . about . . . what I can do? Or, maybe you caught me using my . . . telekinetic powers to bring my book over from my desk to my bed last night to read without my having realized? I did leave the door open ajar before falling asleep -- I was too tired to get up to close it all of the way as I normally do . . ." she murmured more so to herself than to her parents, slowly raising a hand to her sunlit head as she frantically continued to try to map out what was going on.

Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Hale simply chuckled simultaneously as they rose to their feet and generously hugged their daughter.

"Why, of course you were tired, sweet girl! Fighting the scum of Metamoor for most of the night would take a lot out of anyone!" gushed Mr. Hale heartily, causing his wife to nod in agreement while his daughter's mouth hung open in utter shock.

"Oh, I know! But, our daughter isn't just 'anyone!' She is the superbly strong and confident Guardian of Earth, who is here to protect and nurture our overall existence!" revealed Mrs. Hale, both she and Mr. Hale then mimicking Lilian's motion from earlier by landing a loving kiss upon each side of Cornelia's cheeks -- at the same instant that Cornelia abruptly passed out from the shock . . .

-- End of Chapter Three

(A.N. No worries. That wasn't a "bad" passing out, as in she's sick or whatever. It's just the stunned, "Holy CRAP! Did that just happen?" kind of pass out. LoL So don't bother with the reviews of "Oh! I hope Cornelia's ok!" She is. Just shocked. LoL And even though I didn't write it, they revived her within seconds after she'd fainted. It's just late, and I'm beat, and yeah. Besides! I wanted to just leave it at that, and then move onto the next person to deal with the craziness. LoL

Anyway, I'm very glad you like the story so far! It's nice to get back to writing humorous stories, so I'm enjoying it too. LoL Without realizing it, I'm kind of writing it in the same manner each chapter's delivered in the books. You know, like you're reading from someone's journal kinda thing. Well, that's the feeling I always get whenever reading the series. LoL The only difference is I'm using "bigger words" and a more "mature" feel, considering the series IS generally geared towards 9 to 12 year old girls . . . says the 22 year old college senior . . . And I want to be a Vet. Sad. LoL

Anyhow! Thanx for all of the reviews and praise! Woo! Keep it coming! LoL)